Walski’s Note: As a follow-up to his essay New Malaysia: Democracy, Interrupted? that we published yesterday, guest writer Mikhail Hafiz penned this afterword, which in a sense brings us up to speed from the time he wrote the essay was originally written in late 2022. In a way, it provides some closure, but not how you’d usually think about closure. More of an affirmation, that while the details may have changed, where we are in the political spectrum hasn’t changed all that much. As with Mikhail’s other essays, this was originally published as an X/Twitter thread on 9 May 2025.
History says:
Seamus Heaney (1939-2013)
Don’t hope on this side of the grave.
But then, once in a lifetime,
The longed-for tidal wave of justice can rise up And hope and history rhyme.
Seven years ago today, Malaysia experienced a violent political fracturing that reshaped our local political landscape after decades of BN’s uncontested hegemonic dominance, and resulted in the first change of federal government in Malaysian political history.
In the intervening years, however, our beleaguered nation has weathered a political coup that led to the formation of two consecutive morally illegitimate and constitutionally questionable governments, and soldiered through a debilitating global pandemic, amidst the ominous rise of a militant conservative Islamist movement, and worsening racial and religious polarisation, as Malaysia transitions from the ancien régime of hegemonic authoritarianism to a dynamic era of mercenary multipolarity.
Paradigmatically, Malaysia now finds itself in an unenviable predicament: caught between the proverbial rock and hard place, unlikely to return to the bygone days of single-party state dominance, even as the coalition-of-coalitions blueprint remains untested.
Indeed, the crucial issue that may come to dominate GE16, as Malaysia’s tilting ship of state navigates herself through such perilously uncharted waters, is that in an era of pernicious political fragmentation, will our first-past-the-post system still encourage a binary logic?
In other words, will the centre(-right) continue to hold, so as to ensure that it does not fall apart? Or will the “green wave” of Islamist conservatism continue to gain momentum, causing the nation to lurch even further to the right?
If one takes a longue durée approach to Malaysian politics, it is not inconceivable that, given the similarity of our electoral systems, journalist Andrew Marr’s predictions of the UK’s political fortunes could also unfold in our country: “With four or five parties competing in an atmosphere of pessimistic political turbulence, the likelihood is of a sequence of coalitions, failing to produce quick solutions, then collapsing and being replaced by others; a kind of downward spiral of protest, disappointment and political chaos.“
And so, after a turbulent and rancorous interregnum that has seen the appointment of four different prime ministers in as many years, has Malaysia’s very own Velvet Revolution run out of steam, as indicated by its staunchest supporters’ rumblings of discontent?
Has the much vaunted Reformasi movement, (once) embodied by the messianic figure who now helms the unity government, been hampered, hamstrung, and hindered by opportunistic realpolitik in the ostensible pursuit of domestic political stability? Has the exhilarating moment of collective euphoria and exultant joy of that sultry May night – so memorably captured in spontaneous eruptions of rapturous celebrations across the country – given way to creeping dissatisfaction, disenchantment, and despondency?
EPILOGUE:
The incumbent governing coalition is trying to thread an excruciatingly narrow political needle: reiterating its commitment to the reform agenda, whilst seeking to bolster its political legitimacy by courting the support of the Malay-Muslim polity, even as the bellicose and feckless ethnoreligious chauvinist opposition continues to frame the Madani government and its intended reforms as an existential threat to the ethnic majority, instead of functioning as a responsible and reliable check and balance mechanism.
While our long days’ journey into the night, so to speak, remains uncompleted, one remains hopeful that Malaysia will someday take her place among the great nations of the world as “a beacon of light in a disturbed and distracted world”, as envisaged by our founding fathers.
After all, in the words of the English poet Alexander Pope, “hope springs eternal in the human breast”.
So hope for a great sea change,
Seamus Heaney (1939-2013)
On the far side of revenge.
Believe that a further shore
Is reachable from here.
Author’s Note: This thread serves as an afterword to “New Malaysia: Democracy, Interrupted?“, my latest #RediscoveringMalaysia article, in which I chronicle Malaysia’s historic electoral Zeitenwende, and the circumstances that led to this momentous occasion.
(The original main essay, New Malaysia: Democracy, Interrupted? may be read here)
myAsylum 